Most computer-based help systems are static software packages authored by a vendor. Some computer-based help systems monitor user activity in order to provide more relevant help related to a particular operation, however the help provided is typically limited to standard vendor-authored information. Furthermore, the available help content is often not sufficiently specific to a problem encountered by a user. Some help systems allow the user to add customized content to the existing help system or modify existing content, however these systems require special links and/or complicated and/or numerous steps to add custom help information to an existing help system. Such systems employ the framework of the existing help application.
Moreover, existing help systems do not allow custom content to be time sensitive, wherein the custom content can be sorted according to its creation time and deleted after a certain period or at a certain time. Other help systems do not provide a help data structure that supports dynamic and time-sensitive help content that is contributed by a group of users in support of a group activity. A system according to the principles of the invention addresses the identified deficiencies and associated problems.